Pope calls for renewed missionary zeal, hails example of Archbishop Fulton Sheen

June 01, 2026

Hailing the example of Venerable Fulton Sheen (1895-1979), Pope Leo XIV called for the missionary renewal of the Church.

Addressing participants in the general assembly of the Pontifical Mission Societies this morning, Pope Leo recalled that 2026 marks the one hundredth anniversary of World Mission Sunday and the 110th anniversary of the Pontifical Missionary Union.

“It is also providential that this year, on 24 September, in Saint Louis, Missouri, a renowned national director of the Pontifical Mission Societies in the United States of America, the Venerable Fulton J. Sheen, will be beatified,” Pope Leo said during the audience, which took place in Clementine Hall of the Apostolic Palace. “Archbishop Sheen was a light of faith, hope, and love that shone through the radio and television media for decades.”

“I myself am a witness of his evangelization when I was growing up,” the Pope recalled. “His broadcasts touched millions with the hope of the Gospel and his initiatives and efforts resulted in enormous spiritual and material aid to the Churches in areas of first evangelization. May our new Blessed be an example for all of the National and Diocesan Directors of the Pontifical Mission Societies throughout the world.”

The theme of 2026 World Mission Sunday—One in Christ, united in mission—calls “for a missionary renewal in the Church in the years ahead,” Pope Leo continued. “I therefore encourage you to keep this teaching in mind, to live an authentic spirituality of missionary unity and communion centered on Christ, and to promote it through your activities among the faithful.”

The Pope added:

My dear brothers and sisters, the Second Vatican Council insisted that the “Church on earth is by her very nature missionary since, according to the plan of the Father, it has her origin in the mission of the Son and the Holy Spirit” (Ad Gentes, 2). Mindful of this, I invite you all to appreciate the urgency of embracing an ongoing missionary conversion and to look together for ways of being a missionary Church for the healing of our world, so fraught with tensions, conflicts and wars.

In this important task, the work of the the Pontifical Mission Societies remains essential. Let us therefore continue our missionary journey with joy and renewed zeal. In all that we do for the work of evangelization, may we always place Jesus Christ at the center, embracing the beautiful Gospel principle expressed by John the Baptist: “He must increase, but I must decrease” (Jn 3:30).

 

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Further information:

• To Participants in the General Assembly of the Pontifical Mission Societies (Dicastery for Communication - Vatican Media, 6/1/26)
• Audience with participants in the General Assembly of the Pontifical Mission Societies (Holy See Press Office, 6/1/26)